Big Pharma Wants You to Think Your Generic ADHD Medication is Fake

About this episode

There is a narrative online that generic ADHD medication is inferior. Jonathan Murphy, PMHNP-BC, follows the money and explains why that narrative exists, who benefits from it, and what the law actually says. The Hatch-Waxman Act of 1984 created the abbreviated pathway for generics. The brand company already proved the molecule works through clinical trials. The generic just has to prove it delivers the same molecule at the same rate into the bloodstream. That is bioequivalence. 90% of prescriptions filled in the US are generic. The FDA estimates Americans have saved $3 trillion since 2016 because of generics. Without them, the healthcare system collapses under drug costs. This episode covers why the word generic has become a synonym for lesser than, why brand companies have every incentive to undermine confidence in generics, the Morning Brew investigation by former NYT reporter Scott Carney, the Hatch-Waxman Act and what bioequivalence actually means, why Pfizer and Eli Lilly have been cited for the same impurity problems that get blamed on generics, why 53% of patented drugs are also produced overseas, and why the patient who insists on brand-only is asking for corporate domin